If the graviton possesses a non-zero charge q_g , gravitational waves (GW) originating from astrophysical sources would experience an additional time delay due to intergalactic magnetic fields. This would result in a modification of the phase evolution of the observed GW signal similar to the effect induced by a massive graviton. As a result, we can reinterpret the most recent upper limits on the graviton's mass as constraints on the joint mass-charge parameter space, finding |q_g |/e < 3 × 10^-34 where e represents the charge of an electron. Additionally, we illustrate that a charged graviton would introduce a constant phase difference in the gravitational waves detected by two spatially separated GW detectors due to the Aharonov-Bohm effect. Using the non-observation of such a phase difference for the GW event GW190814, we establish a mass-independent constraint |q_g |/e < 2 × 10^-26. To the best of our knowledge, our results constitute the first-ever bounds on the charge of the graviton. We also discuss various caveats involved in our measurements and prospects for strengthening these bounds with future GW observations.

中文翻译：

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使用引力波观测的引力子电荷边界


如果引力子具有非零电荷 q_g ，则由于星系间磁场，源自天体物理源的引力波 （GW） 将经历额外的时间延迟。这将导致观察到的 GW 信号的相演化发生改变，类似于大质量引力子引起的效应。因此，我们可以将引力子质量的最近上限重新解释为对联合质量-电荷参数空间的约束，找到 |q_g |/e < 3 × ^10-34，其中 e 代表电子的电荷。此外，我们还说明了由于 Aharonov-Bohm 效应，带电引力子会在两个空间分离的 GW 探测器检测到的引力波中引入恒定的相位差。利用对 GW 事件 GW190814 的这种相位差的未观测，我们建立了一个质量无关约束 |q_g |/e < 2 × ^10-26。据我们所知，我们的结果构成了引力子电荷的第一个界限。我们还讨论了测量中涉及的各种注意事项，以及通过未来的 GW 观测来加强这些界限的前景。